


Beside You No Matter What

by sekairunsmyworld



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-03-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 11:24:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1303123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sekairunsmyworld/pseuds/sekairunsmyworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyungsoo and Joonmyun are just a few steps away from their dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beside You No Matter What

“I have news!” Joonmyun enters his shared room with Kyungsoo, fresh smell of lavender filling the air as he knocks a pile of clothes down, his dirty pile of clothes (which Kyungsoo hates a lot but doesn’t touch, because he doesn’t want any disease right now), and startles his roommate.

“What is it?” Kyungsoo asks because it’s not usual of Joonmyun to come in the room like this, happy and energetic; he’s always tired, hours and hours of training, and this sudden outburst gets him a bit excited.

“We’re going to be part of a new boy group SM will debut in a year! They’re still choosing the members, but they informed me that you and I will absolutely be in,” Joonmyun jumps up and down as he reports the best news they received a month before Christmas. All these years of training will be compensated and Kyungsoo is especially happy for Joonmyun.

“Oh My God! This deserves a proper celebration.” Kyungsoo beams and get his coat from the hanger, he looks at himself in the mirror to see if everything is okay; he’s glad he was planning to go out for dinner tonight, so he’s dressed a little more formal than the usual.

“Let’s go get something special for dinner. It’s already 7pm and I just took a shower and I know you’ve finished your voice lessons. I bet you’re as hungry as I am, let’s go!” Joonmyun grabs his wallet and pulls Kyungsoo along with him, closing the door behind.

“Where are we going?” Kyungsoo asks as he looks around.

 

 

Joonmyun hushes him and keeps a steady grip on his wrist, warm milky skin contrasting with the cold city air hitting his face.

They enter a tall building, and Joonmyun fixes his shirt while they wait for the elevator.

“Where are we going? I don’t think I know this place at all,” Kyungsoo asks. Joonmyun hits the button for the 30th floor and waits.

“You’ll see,” He smiles, the elevator’s door opening. They get inside and wait, after a few seconds it re-opens and they step outside. So fast, Kyungsoo thinks and remembers how a few seconds ago they were on the ground floor, and looks dazed at their destination.

He follows Joonmyun, gawking at his surroundings. They were supposed to have dinner at somewhere different, not somewhere fancy and absolutely gorgeous like this.

Joonmyun’s talking with a waitress, who smiles politely and gestures to be followed. He takes Kyungsoo’s hand in his and leads him to next to the table that the waitress brought them to.

He’s even more astonished when they sit, taking a glance at every place he lands his eyes on. The huge circular glass window, showing the beautiful view of Seoul’s night sky; floral arrangements placed around; the restaurant looks absolutely lovely and Kyungsoo’s still gaping at everything when Joonmyun taps the back of his hand.

“Do you like it?” Kyungsoo looks wide eyed at him, mouth forming a bright wide smile.

“How can I not like it? This’ wonderful,” Kyungsoo peeks at the window; he can see the street lights, the movement of the traffic outside and his heart flutters at the thought of Joonmyun planning this all just for him.

“I concluded it’d be better to make a reservation at least a month before Christmas so we wouldn’t get this place packed and I don’t know what to say anymore so, thanks for coming with me. I actually thought of you when I chose here,” Joonmyun blurts out and a pretty shade of pink colors his pale cheeks.

“Thanks hyung. I really liked it,” Kyungsoo smiles warmly, secretly biting his lower lip.

“May I take the orders Sir?” The waitress approaches them with a smile on her face, a pen in on hand and a writing pad in the other.

 

 

“The pasta was really good,” Kyungsoo remarks as they leave the building. The dinner was splendid, everything happened perfectly and Joonmyun couldn’t be any happier that everything he planned went the way he wanted. He hums in return, debating if he should tell him or not.

“Why are you so quiet? Are you cold? You can have my scarf if that’s the case,” Kyungsoo adds, finding it rather strange that the older is not talking; he’s always the enthusiastic one.

“I have something to say actually. I was going to tell you later but I think I should do it now,” Joonmyun anxiously jumps and trips on his feet, quickly getting his balance back and takes deep breathes. Kyungsoo looks at him, not sure about what he should do about the situation he’s in.

“Christmas’ coming and I prepared something. I asked the agency about it, they say I could do it before debuting, we talked about it previously and I only took action now,” Joonmyun says in one breath and licks his dry lips.

“Will you go with me to New York next month?” Kyungsoo chokes on cold air and eyes Joonmyun bewildered. He remembers those times when they’d share their secrets and plans for the future; the magnificent New York City was a mutual dream between them and they promised they’d go together once both were able to afford its costs. But Joonmyun bringing it up and asking him to go with him is too much, and when he said next month, he swears he would faint if he wasn’t too excited about it now. But the god of money wasn’t in Kyungsoo’s side, truth to be told.

“I don’t have the money.” Dejected, Kyungsoo’s shoulders drop automatically and he pouts slightly. The sight is too amusing, Joonmyun thinks, it’s quite rare to see Kyungsoo acting all cute and he wants to take his cell phone out and snap a picture of his face, but the latter looking so sad makes him forget about it and instead he explains his plans.

“Actually, I was planning to give the trip as an early Christmas gift for you,” Joonmyun puts his not-so-long arms around Kyungsoo’s not-so-broad shoulders and when the younger looks at him with shining eyes, he holds back the urge to kiss the younger here and there, especially because they’re in a public place, so he pinches his cheeks instead.

“And you can’t say no. I already booked our flight and the hotel and everything is planned, just come and have fun, please,” He takes his arm off Kyungsoo’s shoulders and clasps them, a begging pose. Trying to be more dramatic, he kneels his left leg on the floor and brings his head down. To passers-by it looks like Joonmyun is proposing to Kyungsoo’s and he knows it, so that’s why he’s purposely doing all the scene. Kyungsoo is so embarrassed that he harshly pulls Joonmyun by his hair back to his feet.

“Stop being like this,” Kyungsoo whacks Joonmyun on the head and hides his face zipping up his coat until it reaches his nose.

“Then say yes, please. They said we’ll debut, I don’t think we’ll be able to have a nice trip in the future without getting stalked,” Joonmyun asks, voice begging as he jumps and shakes Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo doubtful face brings him to his knees again and he just wants to disappear.

“You win, okay, I’ll go with you! Stop being embarrassing,” He pushes Joonmyun out of his way and walks ahead. The weather is cold but he feels warm, more like his face, and his heart flutters, just like the first time they went out.

They go back to the dorms, a smiling Joonmyun behind and an overly excited Kyungsoo discuss about their plans to the trip, filling the halls with their agitated conversation.

 

 

The day of their flight comes earlier than they expected.

“Do you have all your documents with you?” Joonmyun asks before they leave, hands full with luggage. Kyungsoo shakes his ID and passport in front of his face and they quickly leave to the front of the dorms, waiting for a cab.

When they arrive at the airport the halls are packed with people, pushing and shoving everywhere and it’s not even THAT near to Christmas. Joonmyun gives up on trying to get any trolley to put their stuff; it’d be a huge bother since they wouldn’t be able to really walk around with it without accidentally hitting or stomping in someone’s foot.

Joonmyun carries everything as Kyungsoo is in charge of their check in. His arms hurt from the weight, but the huge smile on Kyungsoo’s lips makes it up for all the pain.

 

 

“Welcome on board passengers, we thank all of you for choosing to fly with us, Korean Airline, flight 4327 to New York City, USA, with an hour scale in Tokyo. Our aircraft is under the command of Captain Kim. He informed that the flight will be of approximately 26 hours, we--”

“Aren’t you excited?” Kyungsoo moves around in his seat, belt already fastened, animated hands grabbing the knees of his jeans.

“—are here to ensure that you’ll have a comfortable trip with us today--”

Joonmyun stretches out and leans against his seat, glancing to his right to see Kyungsoo looking out of the window, though they still didn’t take off, totally ignoring the stewardess safety instructions.

“--emergency exits, five doors on the left and five doors on right, each marked with a red EXIT sign overhead. All doors except—“

“Do you think we could go to the Empire State Building?” Kyungsoo asks while trying to pay attention to the woman six seats away from him, the stewardess, explaining how he should put on a life vest.

“I think we have a plenty of time to go,” Joonmyun smiles and Kyungsoo smiles back, excited.

“—thank you for your attention,”

“We didn’t really pay attention,” Kyungsoo points out when the stewardess finishes her speech. He laughs, mouth forming the smile Joonmyun loves.

“Kyungsoo-ah, can I ask for a favor?” Joonmyun asks and Kyungsoo nods; what he wouldn’t do for him anyway?

“I don’t really enjoy when the plane takes off, I have some bad experiences.” He shakes his head as the image of his last trip with his parents three years ago comes in mind, he doesn’t want to be remembered of that episode.

Kyungsoo waits for him to keep talking, but the face Joonmyun shows is one that he’s not pleased with something and so he decides to get his attention back by shaking his arm.

“Don’t fall!” Joonmyun turns violently to Kyungsoo and hits his forehead on the seat in front of him, choosing the economic class was necessary since he wanted to stay for a month and probably go everywhere, so resuming: their space inside the plane is limited.

“If you don’t want to fall sir, I advise you to fasten your belt.” The stewardess gives Joonmyun a look; he got so into in his memories that he forgot about the safety instructions. The woman continues giving Joonmyun the look of some sort of murderer and then he tries to act like a perfect passenger, sitting straight and belt quickly fastened.

The woman nods and keeps checking the others passengers.

Kyungsoo is a laughing mess right beside him, mouth open and eyes shut, but Joonmyun doesn’t blame him, he knows he was acting, a little, stupid.

“What were you talking before you wandered away?” Kyungsoo asks as he wipes a tear from the corner of his eyes, anticipation taking place.

“Uhmm,” Joonmyun shifts and rubs his hands. “Could you hold my hand when the plane takes off? I promise to not throw up on you, I didn’t eat anything yet, I swear.”

Kyungsoo laughs and Joonmyun’s shoulders fall a little, maybe Kyungsoo thinks he’s stupid for requesting such a thing.

“Of course silly, you didn’t need to ask. Kyungsoo smiles and takes his hands into his.

“We’re still not taking off you know,” Joonmyun points at hands and laughs, wholeheartedly, eyes forming little crescents, voice sweet in Kyungsoo’s ears.

“I can let go if you want me to, but I’d rather keep holding.” Kyungsoo’s grip tightens and Joonmyun’s face turns a light shade of red, cheesy Kyungsoo is one of his weak spots.

Obviously, Kyungsoo knows it.

And obviously, Kyungsoo is taking advantage of it.

And, well, Joonmyun doesn’t mind, not a bit.

 

 

If the take-off sickness is not enough, Joonmyun reminds on the way to relief himself that he also has landing issues. The plane shook slightly and it was enough to make him to glue to the back of the seat.

“Welcome to New York City, where the local time is 10:13 in the morning, the temperature is 19°C. Please remain seated; we’ll be landing in a few minutes.”

Kyungsoo is asleep when the announcement is made and Joonmyun literally throws himself on top of him; startled, Kyungsoo jumps and hits his head on the roof rack.

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo asks, eyes half open both from the pain and sleepiness, massaging his aching head.

“I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!”

“Will this happen at our return trip?” Kyungsoo asks and grabs Joonmyun’s hands, the latter has his face ‘hidden’ on his coat, breath tickling Kyungsoo’s neck slightly, but he could care less, at least Joonmyun is maintaining him warm.

Joonmyun is not sure about what Kyungsoo just asked him, but he nods his head nevertheless. Moreover, the airplane is about to land, and oh well, he needs to close his eyes and think about his favorite things, coffee, golf, Byul, kids, singing. A few minutes pass, and Joonmyun is still clutching Kyungsoo's fluffy coat, but apparently the plane is already heading to the landing gate.

“Thank you for flying with Korean Air Lines. We wish you a great stay in New York City. Have a nice day.”

Kyungsoo pats Joonmyun's back, trying to bring him back to earth. They need to get out, after all.

"We're here! I can't believe we're actually in New York! Joonmyun, aren't you excited?" Kyungsoo moves Joonmyun away and gets up, promptly avoiding the murdering roof rack, and getting hold of his hand baggage,

Joonmyun finally snaps out of his miserable state and looks out of the window. They're really here. In New York City.

"Come on, don't keep looking out of the window, take your baggage and let's get out of here. It's still morning and we can do a lot of things. Will be there someone waiting for us?" Kyungsoo says in one breath, an excited tone in his voice and, ops, Joonmyun didn't actually tell him they're here all by themselves, in other words, no guidance.

"Let's go then," Joonmyun says. "We'll have to take a taxi cab to the hotel."

He takes out his hand baggage, thanking the heavens he didn't put much into this one.

 

 

The International Airport is packed, even more packed than Incheon was.

Struggling with their luggage, Kyungsoo and Joonmyun manage to find a taxi cab that was unoccupied. They’re relieved to get away of the cold air.

“I’m sorry Soo, but we’re not staying at a five stars hotel, mostly because we’ll be here for almost a month, if it was a week…” Kyungsoo hushes him with his index finger.

“Not a problem for me, besides we’ll only use it to sleep and shower, it’s not like we’d stay indoors. And you’re paying, how can I complain? Besides, how the hell are you paying for everything?” Kyungsoo asks, he thought I’d be rude to ask before, but now he’s plainly curious, and he knows Joonmyun won’t really face it as an outrage or think he’s being ungrateful, but mostly, he knows Kyungsoo is concerned, after all, he can’t take money out of nowhere.

“It was the money I had left from all the college fees. You remember I managed to get a scholarship.” Kyungsoo nods and doesn’t question him anymore, besides he doesn’t have time, because they arrived at the little hotel they’re staying in.

Joonmyun pays the driver and takes their luggage out of the trunk while Kyungsoo looks in awe at the small but cozy looking place. Joonmyun puts his hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulders and smiles.

“Let’s check-in so we can start our tour,” Joonmyun pushes the doors open and drags the luggage with him, they pass the lobby and head to the reception, where a young looking woman is looking through some papers and typing on the computer.

“Hello,” Joonmyun says, he already has his dictionary in hands, he’ll probably need it sooner or later. He wasn’t the best student on his English classes, but he supposes he’s alright.

“Hello sir, would you like to check-in? Can I have your name please?” the receptionist says and Joonmyun tries to understand.

“Hello.” He wants to face palm right now, the woman must think he’s retarded.

“Is the booking under your name?” Kyungsoo whispers to him and he nods. He takes a step and supports his elbows on the countertop. Oh, Joonmyun forgot Kyungsoo likes to study English.

“Hello, the name is Kim Joonmyun,” Kyungsoo talks in accented but not too accented English, Joonmyun is not sure how to describe it, but it sounds cute and perfect and he’s doesn’t think he’s feeling well right now.

It’s so wonderful to be able to travel with Kyungsoo by his side, he’s so happy he accepted in the end, if he didn’t, Joonmyun had planned to threaten him, something about paint and favorite cotton vests.

“Aren’t you coming?” Kyungsoo pokes Joonmyun. “Your weird is showing, stop smiling like this. I’m going to the room, if you want to stay here looking and smiling at nothing at all, you can.”

Kyungsoo’s words are harsh, but it’s nothing that Joonmyun is not used to, to be honest it’s one of the million things about Kyungsoo that he loves, and he knows he’s not being serious, it’s just a way to show he’s worried.

“I’m coming, wait for me.” Joonmyun bows to the lady at the counter and follows Kyungsoo, who decided to carry the entire luggage, he laughs at the sight.

“I’m so excited.” Kyungsoo says as soon as they enter the elevator, almost jumping from all of the excitement growing inside of him.

“Calm down, we don’t want the elevator to fall.” Joonmyun earns a punch from his comment.

“Whoa, thanks for hitting the person who’s paying for the trip,” Joonmyun jokes and Kyungsoo punches him on the other arm.

The door opens itself; they didn’t have to wait much, after all they’re not staying at the higher floor. Their room is at the end of the corridor.

Kyungsoo opens the door with the keycard and places the bags in a corner of the room. He throws himself at the nearest bed and sighs.

“You ready?” Joonmyun asks. “Before going anywhere, let’s find a place to have lunch.”

“Just let me change my coat, it’s cold here and I think it’ll get even colder in a few days.” Kyungsoo gets up from his bed and opens his suitcase; he undresses his red fluffy coat and puts on his fluffier navy blue one.

“Okay, I’m ready,” He makes his way to Joonmyun but stops and turns back. “Wait, I forgot something.” Kyungsoo goes back to his suitcase and takes out a red scarf, wrapping it around his own neck.

“Now I’m ready,” Kyungsoo approaches Joonmyun who’s waiting by the door.

“Is there something on my face?” Kyungsoo worriedly asks, Joonmyun’s staring at him, eyes wide but he shakes his head denying the assumption.

Instead he comes closer to Kyungsoo and raises his hands to cup his face.

“Is there something wrong?” Kyungsoo asks getting more worried, Joonmyun is acting weird again.

“You need to stop being squishy,” Joonmyun pinches Kyungsoo’s cheeks and the latter slaps his hands away from his face.

“Stop, don’t do this in public.” Kyungsoo is not one to blush, but the sudden contact made him turn a little more red than the normal (or did Joonmyun pinch him too hard?), and it’s an unusual happening so Joonmyun quickly takes out his cell phone while Kyungsoo is distracted fixing his scarf and swearing at him, he snaps a picture of his face, but he clearly forgot to disable the sound of the camera, because after he presses the button, Kyungsoo turns to glare furiously at him.

“Give it to me,” Kyungsoo stretches his hands trying to reach the cell phone.

“No no, sorry, it was the app.” Kyungsoo glares some more at him, but gives up, arguing with Joonmyun leads him nowhere and he doesn’t want his precious time on the trip of his dreams to go to waste.

He takes Joonmyun’s hand into his and closes the door.

The elevator apparently is at the 7th floor right now and Kyungsoo’s waiting for it to come down, but he is not one with patience, so he instead pulls Joonmyun to the staircase together with him. They’re only at the 2nd floor, some steps won’t kill them, if they can handle hours of dance training they can even go down the stairs by the 8th floor, so Kyungsoo decides to run.

“Oh my God. Kyungsoo! Don’t try to kill me like this ever again.” Joonmyun manages to say before he collapses into one of the couches on the lounge.

“Don’t tell me you’re tired.” Kyungsoo breaths out while sitting next to Joonmyun, his breathing faster than the normal, but nothing he isn’t used to.

“Don’t tell me you’re not tired.” Joonmyun says and laughs, the last time he ran like this was when he went out for a walk with Byul, and his dog found it’d be funny to escape from her collar and run all around the park.

“What do you want to have for lunch?” Joonmyun asks, but the weight beside him is gone. He looks around and notices that Kyungsoo’s chatting with the receptionist, but it doesn’t last long, because before he can get up Kyungsoo is back beaming at him.

“She said there’s a nice seafood restaurant a few blocks away from here.” Kyungsoo says and brushes Joonmyun’s sweaty bangs away from his face; he looks at his hand and wipes it on Joonmyun’s coat.

“Whatever you want.” he gets up from his ‘I’m tired’ state and brushes his clothes.

They exit the hotel and look at the street around them; it still feels a little surreal to be here, in New York City, and staying for a month, then going back to South Korea with the promise of debuting. Everything is surreal, but they have enough time to get used to this idea.

 

 

With their hunger sated, Joonmyun sits in a bench and takes a scheduler out of his bag.

“What is this?” Kyungsoo asks, pointing at the little book with leather cover, filled with sheets of papers, some even trying to escape.

“The planning for our trip,” Joonmyun flips through the pages and finds what he was searching for.

“Now let’s go take a look at the Public Library if you don’t mind. Not to actually read but I always wanted to see the architecture up close.” Joonmyun looks at Kyungsoo, who smiles and agrees with him.

They look through the map Joonmyun brought with him, and after a few minutes of walking they’re in front of the building, tall pillars in front of him, the lion statue at the sides with all their glory and a huge amount of steps and more stairs and Joonmyun is tired just by looking at it, and thinking that he’ll have to actually go up if he wants to see the inside of the library.

Maybe there aren’t that many steps, but Joonmyun is sure he’ll get tired, especially because he just walked all the way till here.

“Why did you stop?” Kyungsoo asks as he pokes Joonmyun’s ribs, more like shoving his fingers with force against Joonmyun’s ribcage.

Excuse, excuse, I need an excuse to stay here for a few minutes, he thinks.

He then remembers he also brought his camera with him, why would he even forget about his camera if he came as a tourist, what a waste, imagine if he actually had forgotten his camera at the hotel room, he couldn’t be--

“Why did you stop?” Kyungsoo asks again, Joonmyun’s ability to wander away from Earth is spectacular.

Joonmyun opens his bag, taking out his camera, his Fuji X100S, and snaps an unexpected picture of Kyungsoo.

Unexpected as Kyungsoo was looking at the sky and making weird faces because the wind is too cold and he wants a freaking cup of hot chocolate.

“I’m going to take pictures of you and then you’ll take pictures of me,” Joonmyun pushes Kyungsoo to stand in front of one of the statues. “Now smile, you look like you want to die.”

“If I stand here, with this cold I’ll probably die, so hurry.” Joonmyun snaps another picture while Kyungsoo was talking, the latter grits his teeth. “Stop taking ugly pictures of me.”

Snap.

“Then stop talking and smile.” Joonmyun yells from his spot, and Kyungsoo doesn’t have another choice.

“Kyungsoo,” Joonmyun screams and smiles, the younger looks at him worried, did something happen again? “Why are you so handsome?”

He manages to catch the words Joonmyun just said, so he pulls his scarf up, not because he can’t stop smiling but because he’s cold, yeah right.

“Now, you take a picture of me in front of the library.” Joonmyun hands him his camera and goes to the place he wants, making a V sign with his fingers and smiling, his whole face is bright and cheerful and it doesn’t look like the weather is this cold at all.

Kyungsoo snaps two pictures and Joonmyun looks satisfied already.

“Let’s go inside,” Joonmyun says and Kyungsoo doesn’t need to be told twice, he grabs his hand and runs to get into the library without a break.

The inside is as stunning as the outside, the high ceiling, the chandeliers, all the tables and chairs made of wooden, not counting the huge amount of shelves and books. Joonmyun glances around the place and turns to Kyungsoo.

“I think that’s it, let’s go to another place now.” Joonmyun pats his shoulder and heads to the door. Kyungsoo groans, the place is so warm and now he’ll have to go outside on the cold again.

 

 

“You’re kidding me right?” Kyungsoo groans when he sees that they walked for about 30 minutes, eighteen blocks, to arrive in front of the Central Park, that looks almost deserted aside from some crazy people he can see from afar playing softball.

“Come on, I know you wanted to come here, it’s still early so we can resume our day by walking around the park.” Joonmyun shakes Kyungsoo, who is not pleased by this act and tries to distance himself.

“It’s cold! I’m going back to the hotel.” Kyungsoo turns to leave and slowly walks.

“Are you sure? I don’t think you have the address.” Joonmyun chuckles and Kyungsoo runs back to him, pretending to aim a kick at his crotch, but used to his violent behave, Joonmyun just turns to the side.

Kyungsoo laughs and stands by his side.

“Okay, let’s stroll around the park,”

“You can’t be like this when we debut you know, I can’t have you on the front cover of the newspaper.” Joonmyun pinches Kyungsoo’s arm and the latter groans, rubbing the aching spot.

“Don’t be so mean, you know I’m a good boy, right? Damn it, it’s too cold. I’m freezing.” Kyungsoo blinks innocently at Joonmyun, placing his hands under his chin and smiling cutely, but he cusses when the cold air comes in contact with his bare skin.

“Fuck. Remember me why I didn’t get my gloves on my suitcase.” Kyungsoo tries to warm his hands blowing hot air on them, which is not really working and Joonmyun just observes. It’s really funny to see how Kyungsoo’s so vulnerable because of the weather; it’s one of the only weak points he has and that Joonmyun acknowledges.

“Let’s start walking so we can warm up.” Joonmyun gives Kyungsoo’s back a little push and walks ahead of him. The air is indeed cold against his face but he could care less, he’s living one of his dreams.

By simply taking a walk around the Central Park in New York was one of the things he swore he’d do at least once in his lifetime, and here he is, actually strolling around the park accompanied by one of the people he adores.

Kyungsoo catches up with him, after releasing a little list of swearing, and shivers next to Joonmyun, his hands rubbing his sides trying to produce warmth.

“Today was such a nice day!” Joonmyun sing songs and spreads his arms as he laughs.

“It’d be better if it wasn’t this cold. Seriously, I can sense that it’ll snow here in the following days.” Joonmyun knows Kyungsoo is not a fan of snowing days because he easily gets sick and he hates to carry a handkerchief with him. He’s not sure why, but it must be another one of Kyungsoo’s antics.

“Come on, smile a little Kyungsoo,” Joonmyun takes Kyungsoo’s hand in his and puts it inside the pocket of his coat.

Kyungsoo remembers what Jongin told him a few months ago at one of their dance lessons.

“Hyung, you need to smile more, I’m sure you want to be an idol with a lot of fans, you should smile prettily like you do when Joonmyun hyung is near you.” at that time Kyungsoo just shoved the kid aside and headed to his singing lessons, but he knows he needs to smile more, and he wants to smile honestly, just like he does when he eats his favorite dish, or when he sees puppies at the pet shop, or when Joonmyun is tightly holding his hand like this.

He’s improving little by little and his smiles will be more sincere, he just needs practice, and Joonmyun being placed in the same group as him, is not only a blessing but it’s also destiny in his opinion, out of all the talented trainees like Jongin’s friend Moonkyu and Jongin himself, they ended up together.

“Soo? Are you still here?” Joonmyun bumps shoulders with him as they walk. He loses his balance for a span of 3 seconds and turns his viewing area to Joonmyun’s angelic face and smiles.

“Yes.” the monosyllable leaves his mouth and he squeezes the hand that is holding his; Joonmyun doesn’t need any other word to be uttered, he just grins to himself and enjoys the walk.

 

 

“Today I think we should visit the Botanical Garden. What do you think?” Joonmyun asks when they’re heading to have breakfast at the hotel. Kyungsoo is wearing his coat already.

He hums in response, due to his sleepy and hungry state. Yesterday they arrived at the hotel after having dinner at one nice Italian restaurant and he’s less exhausted but the time zone difference is still bothering him.

“I’m glad you agree. Let’s eat and put on warmer clothes, then we’ll be ready to go walk around.” Joonmyun says and pulls Kyungsoo with him into the hotel’s restaurant.

 

 

“The guide says it contains 50 different gardens and plant collections. And they also have a winter schedule. I bought the All-Garden Pass, so we’ll probably pass the day here looking at everything.” Joonmyun excitedly holds Kyungsoo’s shoulder and recently the latter feels like a doll being pushed and pulled around, but since its Joonmyun he decided to not care.

“Joonmyun what the hell is this?” Kyungsoo stops walking and opens his hands in front of himself. It’s raining, it’s falling from the sky, it’s “It’s snowing. Goddammit.”

“It’s snowing.” Joonmyun takes Kyungsoo’s hands and spins. He was really excited for the snow to start falling.

“I’m going to die,” Kyungsoo wails in misery and Joonmyun stops spinning, his head hurts but he’s too happy to even be bothered by it.

"Wait up," Joonmyun mumbles and searches for something inside his bag. "I saw the news yesterday after you fell asleep, I didn't really understand a thing they were saying but I noticed it showed pictures of snow and the temperature on screen, so I assumed it meant something. Here, I brought you a beanie, another scarf and an extra pair of gloves."

Kyungsoo smiles; Joonmyun is always one to think about him and his safety. He sniffs and takes the items from Joonmyun's hands.

"Thanks." He puts on the beanie and the scarf. The new pair of gloves look more warm than his own, so he takes his off and decides to use the other. "Thanks a lot."

Joonmyun is surprised by Kyungsoo hugging him.

"You're always so warm." Kyungsoo whispers and Joonmyun smiles, he knows he's not only talking about his body temperature.

 

 

At night, after all the walking they did, Joonmyun surprises Kyungsoo by choosing the fine restaurant ‘Daniel’ for dinner. The sandwich they had as lunch wasn’t enough after all.

The refined atmosphere, neoclassical architecture and oh, how Joonmyun loves it so much, and the French cuisine closes their day with the delicious ‘Herb Cured Scottish Salmon’ they ordered. Though not full like a plate of ddeokbokki but full enough to satisfy their hunger.

The white snow falling and the show it does is spectacular, and even Kyungsoo, who is not a fan of it, must agree how beautiful it looks illuminated by the city lights.

 

 

At their first week in New York, Kyungsoo isn’t surprised at how amazing everything’s going. Joonmyun’s as sweet as always; he chooses nice restaurants (like Brushstroke for Japanese food; Junoon for indian food; and some BBQ places, and Kyungsoo swears he have never seen so much meat in a plate.); he chooses good places to visit, though they didn’t actually go to a lot of places, Joonmyun said they have time to go calmly through all the places they want.

So today, Joonmyun asked him if he was okay about visiting the Radio City Music Hall.

The next day, they go watch a winter play at Broadway. Kyungsoo always dreamed about being part of a musical and maybe someday he'll fulfil this dream, maybe.

Joonmyun also thought that the visit to the Empire State Building Observation Deck would have to be early. The wind is colder, the ice layer is thicker and the amount of snow doubled in a span of a week.

The view from above the Empire State Building is fantastic, even if they went to see it after lunch, Joonmyun couldn't risk getting Kyungsoo sick when they're only a week away from Christmas.

Kyungsoo also wanted to visit some museums and Joonmyun, as the good hyung he is, granted Kyungsoo's wish.

They also went on more walks around in the Central Park, sometimes sitting on a bench that was clean from snow while looking at the lake (Kyungsoo would always shiver because he can't help it when his butt makes contact with the cold surface, and Joonmyun would laugh at him but he would also hold Kyungsoo's hand so hard that he'd forget about how cold he was).

Joonmyun is always so considerate.

 

 

Christmas is finally nearing (two days to be exact) and Joonmyun, as the sweet person he is, surprises Kyungsoo.

 

He told him when they woke up that they'd be going to a colder place later on. Kyungsoo groaned but agreed.

Now they're standing side by side in front of the Rockefeller Center ice-skating rink, big and full of couples and kids. The sun is about to take its leave. But all the illumination is almost blinding them and it makes him feel the Christmas spirit.

Kyungsoo looks around; he forgot how he also wanted to take a look at the Christmas decoration at the Rockefeller Center. The Christmas tree is so, so, so tall that Kyungsoo wishes he could see the top of it.

He's still looking at his surroundings and Joonmyun smiles because he always loved how Kyungsoo would get lost about something he finds amazing.

He grabs him by his hand and, with Kyungsoo still looking amazed at everything, he rents two pair of ice skates.

"Ah," Kyungsoo stutters and looks at Joonmyun with frightened eyes. He got so ecstatic and distracted with the whole decoration he ignored the fact that they were at an ice-skating rink and that he doesn't really know how to skate.

"Scared?" Joonmyun asks and puts a hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"I'm never scared." Kyungsoo says through gritted teeth and Joonmyun stiffs a laugh. Kyungsoo is always trying to look tough.

“Of course you’re not scared.” Joonmyun laughs. “But if you need help, I’ll be there.” he points at the center of the rink and skates his way there.

Kyungsoo didn’t notice how fast Joonmyun tied his skates and how he’s still holding his.

He carefully puts his foot inside it followed by the other but he sighs anyway; he’d always been a little afraid about all these sports, skateboarding, snowboarding, karts, any type of racing, gliding, the list is vast and Kyungsoo can’t think of it right now or it’ll get late and he won’t enjoy his time with Joonmyun (not like he’s not enjoying, he is, but he wants to make the best out of each day).

He stands at the edge of the rink, squirming about stepping on the ice. He passes the entrance and holds tightly onto the fence surrounding the ice rink.

Joonmyun is too far from him and Kyungsoo is not sure if he can make it through all the people without knocking down some kids.

He yelps in despair when someone bumps into him from behind, but it’s not someone bumping into him. It’s Joonmyun hugging him and oh, Kyungsoo doesn’t know what to do or say anymore.

“You look lost,” Joonmyun whispers on Kyungsoo’s ear and the latter blushes madly at their sudden proximity. “Let me help you.”

Sometimes Joonmyun is capable of saying ‘snarky comments’ that make Kyungsoo without words and this is one of those times, when Kyungsoo really, really doesn’t know what to say and how to breath at all. Joonmyun is too close and Kyungsoo’s flustered.

“I-I-I-” Kyungsoo tries to say and Joonmyun is now in front of him, hands waiting for him to take. Kyungsoo’s shaking, mostly because he’s cold and also because he’s nervous, but he takes Joonmyun’s hands in the end.

“Bend your knees a little, and don’t get your feet together. Don’t stiff your body,” Joonmyun manhandles Kyungsoo’s legs with his right hand and the poor boy falls backwards, bringing Joonmyun with him, the grip on his left hand still there.

They fall to the ice with an ‘oof’ sound coming from Kyungsoo’s mouth because Joonmyun almost crushed his tiny body.

“Sorry.” he gets up and helps Kyungsoo up.

For more cliché that this situation is, Kyungsoo thinks that it couldn’t get worse, until he slips and falls forward, and Joonmyun actually catches his body. And now they look like a couple hugging at the corner of the rink.

Kyungsoo thinks that even if it sounds more cliché than what just happened, it’s still pleasant to know that Joonmyun is there to take care of him. Be it by buying him something to drink after their practices or teaching him how to ice skate.

“Okay, let’s try again.” Kyungsoo smiles and Joonmyun guides him through the ice rink.

 

 

“Merry Christmas Kyungsoo!” Joonmyun screams, waking up the poor boy named Kyungsoo who was still sleeping.

Yesterday, Joonmyun thought it was a good idea to visit the ice-skating rink again and he was determined to make Kyungsoo turn into some ice skating master. Which resulted in falls and Kyungsoo’s butt hurting because the ice’s freaking hard.

And Kyungsoo’s not even a little bit pleased by being woken up with screams and someone (Joonmyun, obviously) jumping on him.

But Joonmyun’s already up, and an excited Joonmyun’s hard to control. He groans and sits on his bed.

“Merry Christmas,” He lazily pushes Joonmyun out of his bed (and Joonmyun decides to sit on the ground) and opens his eyes.

Kyungsoo then remembers about buying something for Joonmyun before they traveled and he jumps out of his bed and runs to his suitcase.

Joonmyun’s still on the ground, laughing but when something hits his face he stops and looks at Kyungsoo.

“Merry Christmas.” Kyungsoo jumps back on the bed and covers his body and head in embarrassment.

Joonmyun silently unwraps the gift. He hugs the sweater that’s inside and a sheet of coupons fall together.

“Thanks for the sweater and for the ‘1 meal prepared by Kyungsoo’ coupons!” Joonmyun laughs and hugs the sweater tighter. “I’ll make good use of these,” he says shaking the coupons.

“And I’m sorry, I didn’t get you anything.” Kyungsoo seriously wants to smack Joonmyun’s head, how can he say he didn’t get him anything?

“Are you kidding me? You sure you didn’t get me anything?” the disbelief tone surprises Joonmyun who looks at Kyungsoo (who’s still under the blankets, by the way) with a face that says something along the lines of enlighten me please.

“First of all we’re here, in New York City, something I think I won’t be able to afford even when we debut. Second how could you pay for everything? I’m going to kill you, because I feel guilty. It’s like I’m using you.” Kyungsoo kicks the blankets away and shakes Joonmyun by the shoulders.

“Because I want to?” Joonmyun answers and to not get Kyungsoo mad at him for being so simple, because, yes it was a lot of money, but he doesn’t mind, especially when the money itself wasn’t spent in other things like clothing and electronics, like his brothers does.

Joonmyun snaps his fingers because he just had an idea for a Christmas gift!

“Are you enjoying our trip so far? We’re going back to Korea in two days. I’ll miss this.” Kyungsoo stares at Joonmyun who just changed the subject of their conversation.

“Of course I am. I’ll miss it too,” Joonmyun then startles Kyungsoo by jumping on the bed.

“This is my Christmas gift to you. In a few years, I promise, we’ll come back here. We came before our debut and we’ll definitely come after it,” out of the blue Joonmyun hugs Kyungsoo and sighs. “Isn’t it nice? You, me, here in New York, our dreams coming true. I thought I’d never debut and now we’ll come back and it’ll actually happen, and the best part is that we’ll be together.”

Kyungsoo acknowledges Joonmyun words and he hears sniffs coming from the older boy.

“Hey, hey! Are you crying? Don’t cry! Let’s enjoy the remaining days we have here.” Kyungsoo nudges Joonmyun’s sides and Joonmyun’s grip on Kyungsoo tightens, but he nods.

“I know you’re here for me, so just know I’m here for you too.” Joonmyun only sobs louder at Kyungsoo’s words.

 

 

“I guess it’s a goodbye.” Kyungsoo sighs and Joonmyun puts his arm around his shoulders.

“Not a goodbye, but a ‘See you soon’.” He smiles and pokes Kyungsoo’s cheeks with his slim fingers.

“Excuse me.” Joonmyun says to the person next to them, the airport is packed like last time and it’s almost New Year, obviously the airport would be full of people travelling.

Joonmyun forgot he doesn’t know English that well and he just points to his camera while Kyungsoo observes him.

The lady understands him and nods. Joonmyun hands her his camera and circles his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist.

“Ready?” the lady asks. Kyungsoo nods and she snaps the picture.

Joonmyun thanks the lady and bows, she smiles leaving with her suitcase.

“I’m going to save all the pictures on my laptop and also make a photo album,” Joonmyun safely puts the camera inside his backpack just as they hear the number of their flight being called.

“Repeating, flight number 5734 with destiny to South Korea, passengers proceed to gate 11.”

“Aren’t you sad for leaving but also excited to see what awaits for us with the debut?” Joonmyun asks while they wait in line.

Yes, Kyungsoo is really excited, so excited that he’s sure that there will be sleepless nights in which he’ll probably daydream about their ‘yet to be decided’ debut day. His silence shows Joonmyun that he’s thinking and there’s no doubt that his answer would be yes.

The gates open and they enter the plane calmly, though Joonmyun‘s already a little nervous about the take-off.

“Welcome on board of the Korean Airline, flight 5734 to Seoul, South Korea”

Kyungsoo sits at the window again and Joonmyun shakes on his spot.

The warm pressure of Kyungsoo’s palms on his arm cools his anxiety and he smiles. Kyungsoo always make everything better.

“I’m here.” Kyungsoo whispers.

“I know.” Joonmyun replies, breath stable once again.

“I’m here now, and I’ll be here for you in all the happy and sad moments okay,” with a squeeze on his hand, Joonmyun closes his eyes.

Yes, he knows. He knows Kyungsoo will always be there for him.


End file.
